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Wednesday, 7 April 2010

Once upon a dream.

As a fan of Paulo Coelho, I’ve been getting daily quotes from him on Facebook. Recently a lot of his quotes have been about dreams. Yesterday’s really struck a chord with me –

“If you have a dream, don't waste your energies explaining why.”

A few weeks ago, I spent quite some time feeling torn, because when I’d enthusiastically explained my plans to someone, they didn’t exactly laugh, but they may as well have done. They asked questions, but they were asked with an air of amusement and their look said very plainly, “you poor dear, you really are a bit mad aren’t you?” Suddenly I felt silly. All the joy of what I was doing fell into a pit.

It took me days to realise that it really didn’t matter what they thought. This was my dream, not theirs and I didn’t have to vindicate it. How can we expect someone else to understand our hopes and aspirations? They are, after all, the result of our own experiences and there is no one else in the world who knows all of those, except us. I’ve come to the conclusion that the best people to have around in life are the ones who don’t ask why, just share in the hope and the joy. I’ve been married to a lovely man who does just that, for twenty-one years. I’m pretty lucky really.

I teach my kids that as long as what they want to do is not going to hurt or inconvenience anyone else, or themselves, then they should go for it, no matter what anyone else thinks. Funny, isn’t it, how we forget what we teach our kids when it comes to ourselves?

my mother always told me, "you have to dream, it is good for you," i did not really know what she meant since i was just a little kid when she said this to me but she encouraged any dream that made me feel good about myslef and the world around me. It's too late to ask her or tell her about my 'persoanl dreams'she was so young when i lost her.

Years later, i have read quotes, sayings, excepts from well-known people who state that it is so very 'healthy to dream' and i do believe that is true.

Trees Are Not Lollipops

This is my motto, first heard when I was five years old and asked to draw a tree. Our teacher looked at all the drawings we'd done and said, "They're lovely, but remember trees are not lollipops". She made us look at trees more closely and see what they really looked like. It helped me with my drawings, but now I apply it to everything. I don't accept what other people say about something or someone until I've looked carefully for myself.